King of the Jungle
by Calico45
Summary: Rose loved her home in Britain almost as dearly as the memories of her late mother that it contained, so when she had to move she was devastated. However, after some time to get used to the place, the extra space turns out to be just what she needed when she becomes a mother herself. But what happens when one of her kittens starts to want something different himself? Nekotalia.
1. Prologue

King of the Jungle

Prologue

Belleville. The name itself could not be said without sounding disgusting. Really, what had been so wrong with the old home? Sure it had been a little small, but the word "quaint" fit it far better, or at least that is what Rose thought. She had grown up in that home with her late mother, and her rather rambunctious siblings that later became her neighbors. She was not missing them all that much, admittedly. However, she _was_ missing her favorite sunbathing spots, the scenic view of her territory, and the general ambience of the quiet house. This house was not so quiet. In fact, her old house had not been so quiet as of late either. Not after that man and his grabby _things _started hanging around. As far as Rose was concerned those things were of no good to her and her housemate by the name of Lucy Small, now Lucy Cade. People were really so stupid sometimes, no wonder they were only given one life to lead unlike a far more deserving species that had nine. Yes, Lucy truly was an idiot, though Rose supposed that she had always been one so this should not have come as a surprise. Even her mother had warned her of the humans' capricious ways, however she also spoke of the streets and forest the same way. Rose had always assumed that if her mother, as wise as she was, had chosen a human household over the streets or the forest then it was the best choice, no matter the shortcomings, but had come to start doubting that assumption. If she remembered correctly, the doubt started the moment one of the grabby things caught ahold of her tail. It was hard to believe that Lucy was ever a thing like that, though her mother swore she had once been. Humans called them "kids" and cats, "kittens," but "grabby things" fit these little monsters perfectly as far as Rose was concerned. That doubt had grown since, and it was now reaching a peak as she was trapped in a black bag heading towards this "Belleville." Rose really hated that name by now.

She had already been trapped in this bag for hours on top of _hours_ and that was not even the worst of it. Not only did she have to ride in the metal beast known as a "car," but she had been on something Lucy called an "airplane." The entire journey she also had to put up with the grabby things. They were loud, smelled funny, and would _not _stop touching her no matter how much she growled. To put it very simply: Rose will never let them put her in that bag again. The vet was nothing now. She had caught bits of Lucy's conversations and had pieced together that the reason for this strenuous venture was because she had decided to purchase a new home with her mate, one that for some ungodly reason had to be in a whole other country. Yep, she was leaving Britain, home of all her ancestors, for the country of America and had absolutely no choice in the matter. Never again would she walk the same trails as her mother, scuffle with her siblings, or feel the contentedness of being where you knew you belonged. _Lovely_.

Even with all that in mind, Rose had been reasonably hopeful about this new arrangement. She had known Lucy a very long time and had figured that it counted for something when it came to knowing what the human was going to do. Apparently not knowing her new mate proved too great a disadvantage, because the moment Rose had gotten a glimpse at her new "home" she was horrified. Her old house had been a paradise of sorts, because for what it lacked in size it made up for it in land. There were woods to the north, the sea to the south, the city to the east, and farmland to the west. As such, it had been naturally a little secluded, but not cut off from the world. Rose and her mother had always enjoyed the privacy it had afforded, and for the longest time Rose had thought that Lucy had, too. Clearly that was not the case, because now she was situated in a townhouse. It was naturally large due to all the future inhabitants, and Rose had no problem with _its_ size, but was that really supposed to be a yard? One patch of grass was not a yard. There was not even any trees, which should have been where the houses were squeezed together. Did she mention that she could already smell all the other cats in the neighborhood? Apparently there were several that were her neighbors, dogs, too.

Rose had already seen enough before she was brought inside. Apparently Lucy's mate had left Britain ahead of them and he, along with the movers, had already situated most of the furniture inside. Most of it was not Lucy's, being that it either smelled of that man or cleaner of sorts, and that was just yet another thing to add to the list. This was not home. It would never be home. It did not look like home, did not smell like home, and did not feel like home. As prideful as Rose was, she was getting to the point that she would be willing to do some pretty unsavory things to get her point across. Lucy simply did not have the right to run both of their lives like this. If anything, she _owed_ Rose and her family. They were the one constant in her life through everything, not this man and his grabby things. Why could she not just understand that? Was her life that bad before? Rose had always thought she had enjoyed her private life as a budding author, spending her days living on the outskirts of a quiet town in a house that was once owned by her own family. Maybe she truly had and was just taking it for granted, and now that it was gone she would want it back. One could always hope.

"Ah, so you are the newcomer to this neighborhood."

It took all of Rose's self-control to cry out at the sudden voice, but her hair raising on end gave away her surprise, which was apparently funny.

"Calm down, ma cherie. My name is Francoise, your next door neighbor to the right. Well, one of them."

Rose flicked her tail in annoyance, starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. This, _Francoise_, was in her house. She hated it, but it was still hers and he had no right to be here. A still swinging cat flap on the front door behind him told the whole story of how he got in. Great, apparently the neighbors had no modesty or manners. It did not help that Francoise looked like a giant cotton ball, which was probably shedding so he would forever be embedded in the furniture and carpet, and had the strange smell of something vaguely reminiscent of grapes and scented candles.

"Cannot take your eyes off me, I see." the cat chuckled, taking a seat and brushing his tail with his paw, "It is truly magnificent, so I see why. I am a pure-blooded Persian, after all. I have so many show ribbons that it would make your head spin."

Rose, in all her years, had not met a cat like this. She was rather young, but definitely not born yesterday. She had met arrogant cats before, sure, some that harped on being pure blooded. Well, she was a pure blooded Scottish Fold and though she was prideful, she was proud of acts she herself had accomplished, not some bloodline that anyone could have been born into. However, what really made this one different is that she knew exactly what he reminded her of from the moment she had first heard his voice.

"I was not aware that they had competitions for frogs."

"The new belle is feisty, it seems." the Persian mused aloud, "You know, you would be much cuter if you did not scowl. Orange and white is actually quite pretty."

Rose felt her hackles raising even higher if that were possible.

"Y-you frog!"

"It is the truth, and though I would like to spend more time with you it is getting rather late. Welcome to the neighborhood, Rose, I believe your owner called you. I will be sure to grace you with my presence again, ta ta!"

And the Persian was gone, leaving Rose frozen on the spot with her fur all over the place. Bugger, that would take forever to groom back in place. Needless to say, she was not looking forward to meeting any more neighbors and was missing Britain more than ever.


	2. Chapter 1

King of the Jungle

Chapter 1

Names

Bellville. Rose could say the word now without feeling like she had to hack up a hairball afterwards. The process to get to that, however, had been a long one, typically revolving around all of the neighbors. It was her displeasure to learn that Francoise was not her only neighbor to the right, but one of three furry savages. Besides the Persian, there was an arrogant, albino Russian Blue with a scar across his right eye, aptly named Scar. Beside him there was also a rather jovial, light brown and white mixed breed by the name of Tomato. Needless to say, all three drove Rose to the brink of insanity, but they were not her only neighbors. She learned that to her left was actually another female cat in this neighborhood, a black oriental named Kitty. This cat did not annoy Rose like the others, but was prideful herself and was not much for conversation. Needless to say, it was even more slim pickings for _intelligent _conversation. However, Rose did get a rather unexpected hope in this hopeless situation: kittens. More specifically, her own kittens. Any details about their father or fathers she could not provide, or honestly wanted to with the population of her new neighborhood, though she was quite adamant that at the very least Francoise had nothing to do with the process. The issue was not particularly pressed though, seeing as that spring she was hardly the only one welcoming newcomers into the neighborhood. Far from it actually, but she did not know all the details seeing as she had not left the house since the blind and deaf beings were first born.

It actually took Lucy about three days to discover that the odd noises under her bed were Rose and her new family. The human had actually been unaware that Rose had been expecting, and had been more than a little surprised. More surprised than the time that Rose turned out to be a girl, instead of the "Arthur" she had been originally. Speaking of names, it was a tradition of the feline species to allow the humans to pick their names, seeing as the name had absolutely nothing to do with their identities. It was supposed to make humans feel more secure, so Rose's mother had always told her. That was why she was willing to follow the tradition, even if she already had names she would far prefer to anything they could come up with. In all truth, Rose would not have picked her own that she now had. She actually preferred Arthur, but as far as she was concerned she had gotten the best names out of her littermates both times around. That still did little to decrease her anxiety as the humans started to pick names for her two petite kittens. It did little to help her nerves that they kept trying to reach for them to inspect them for their new names. Needless to say, all hands were met with Rose's claws and teeth. _Her_ kittens were not ready to be touched.

Lucy's mate, who Rose learned to be named Richard, seemed to think differently. He purposely waited for Rose to leave and snuck under the bed. Rose had not been out three minutes, but when she came back her _squealing_ kittens were in his hands. She, being the good mother she was, naturally tried to remove said hands. Sadly, Lucy was faster in shutting the door, causing a very angry Rose to smash right into it. She promptly began clawing and yowling. Through her cries, she could hear the conversation between the two, but not anything from her kittens, which worried her for various reasons.

"I feel like a bad person doing this, Richard. I mean—just listen to her."

"There has been no harm done. We just want to see them. We have to take them to the vet later anyway, she has to get used to this."

Vet? The vet meant nothing to her anymore, but kittens were another matter! Her claws began to go deeper and her voice rose an octave.

"They are so cute and white!"

"They do look rather unusual, don't they? I mean they are carbon copies with different colors. One white and black, the other white and light brown."

"Unusual?" Who did he think he was calling _her _kittens "unusual?!" Something that spawned those grabby things had absolutely no right!

"They look like that Persian next door, now that I think about it." Richard murmured, thoughtfully.

"You are right, they do!"

That was the final nail in the coffin.

"Francoise has nothing to do with it, now: LET. ME. IN!" screamed Rose, actually climbing the door with her claws embedded in it out of frustration.

"So what do you want to name them, Richie? Should we wait and let the kids instead?"

"Not with the way your demonic cat reacts."—Rose scoffed.—"I'll name this one, I think he is a boy. You can name that one. I am pretty sure it is a she."

Rose had a good idea which ones they were talking about, but it did not help her calm down in the least. That man had no right to name her kittens, the grabby things either, Lucy only.

Lucy hummed in thought, "I think I will name this one… Maple!"

How… Original, Rose supposed.

"I feel bad for her," Richard laughed, "You, on the other hand, will get a great name, little guy. Hm. You remind me of Clark Kent, strangely enough. You can be my little superman, my little hero. Maybe you will tame that mother of yours and the save the household, how does that sound, Hero?"

Rose immediately cried out in protest, but it was too late. Tradition was tradition, after all.

"We better just let her in already, Richard."

"Fine, just let me put them back."

He could put them wherever he wanted, the moment they turned their backs Rose was going to hide her babies. The first thing she was going to do when she reached them was give them a very thorough cleaning, though. If she could get a snap at Richard in, it would only be icing on the cake. While she was formulating her plan of action, she forgot that she was halfway up the door, so she gave herself, and Lucy, quite a fright when she started to open the door. Rose bolted under the bed where her two filthy smelling kittens waited, squalling. Even the usually quite one, now named Maple, was crying out in wild abandon. That man really must have stunk. It made her feel all the better when said man saw the damage done to the door in the form of deep gashes and began to curse.

As soon as she reached the two she had started to groom them, but only once the humans were gone did her nerves start to calm and her thoughts began to form. Maple and Hero, was it? Hero was the younger of the two, a little white boy with a black tail and ruff that looked something like a lion's man. Unlike his sister, Maple, he was quiet talkative. She was light brown everywhere he was black and had a little curl on the top of her head. Rose had yet to see their eyes, but she knew they would both be blue until later in their lives. All in all, she thought the names did not fit. At all. They were too, simplistic might have been the word? If she had been the one naming them Hero would have been Alfred without a doubt, and Maple would have been Matthew. Or maybe, Madeline? No, Matthew. She liked that name best and gender based names were something stupid that humans did. Names did not change or define anyone's identity after all.

Rose's ears began to perk as she recognized a familiar sound in the back ground, the bus. That meant the grabby things were home. She huddled closer to her kittens. They had already gone through too much that day because she had been careless, she would not be caught off guard again. It was a disgrace to her own mother to be so inept. One thing she knew is that she had to protect these two as if her life depended on it, her sanity surely did.


End file.
